One of the smartest decisions that Rob Ford has made as mayor of Toronto was to appoint Gordon Chong as his point man on how to finance the Sheppard subway extension.

It was a good move because Chong is one of the city’s leading experts on urban transit, from subways to buses, commuter trains, streetcars and light rail transit. A lifelong Toronto resident, Chong cares deeply about the city. He’s been involved in public life for more than 30 years, first as a city and Metro councillor and later as either a director or chairman on countless civic-minded boards ranging from GO Transit to the YMCA of Greater Toronto.

So it’s distressing to see Chong caught in a firestorm of vicious personal attacks, public protests and council infighting over Ford’s subway plans.

It all stems from Chong’s decision last March to accept Ford’s offer to prepare a report on ways to finance a Sheppard subway extension. The report, released in February, favours subways over surface light rail transit and suggests the Sheppard extension is feasible if financed through a series of “revenue tools,” such as new taxes, higher parking fees and road tolls.

Since issuing the report, Chong has been the target of a nasty smear campaign, with an anti-Ford website calling him “Ford’s lackey” and accusing him unfairly of having “mismanaged his funds and ripped off consultants to the tune of $80,000” while researching the subway study.

To top it off, Ford and the city are stiffing Chong, failing to pay him $24,000 in back salary that he is owed for preparing the year-long, 188-page report.

So stingy are Ford and the city that Chong at times had to forego his monthly paycheque in order that his assistant could be paid.

And now TTC chair Karen Stintz is threatening to close down the tiny bankrupt TTC subsidiary where Chong works as CEO — unpaid since last summer.

How could this happen to a decent and respected man like Chong?

Throughout his career, Chong has worked well with politicians from all backgrounds and party affiliations. Unlike Ford, he was willing to make compromises if it resulted in winning traction on key projects.

A dentist by training, Chong was first elected to city council in 1980, but was defeated in 1982 by Jack Layton, who later became the federal NDP leader. A moderate Conservative, he ran as a Tory in the 1987 provincial election, but lost. He subsequently was elected to the former Metro council in 1994, representing a North York ward until he retired in 2000.

After politics, Chong served with distinction as chair of GO Transit, the YMCA and the Social Housing Services Corp.

His first formal dealings with Ford came when he was named to the mayor’s transition team. Last March, Chong agreed to take on the job of finding up to $4 billion in private financing to help pay for the $4.7 billion Sheppard extension.

Within weeks, though, Chong ran afoul of the Ford team when he suggested road tolls might be needed to pay for the subway.

Such openness infuriated some Ford loyalists, but it was in keeping with Chong’s long-held view that citizens have a right to know what their leaders are doing — and why.

“It is dissatisfaction with the old top-down, elitist, outmoded ways of organizing our lives and our institutions — especially government ones — that the country’s citizens have been frustrated with for some time, that is finally finding public expression,” Chong wrote in a 2006 opinion piece in the Toronto Star about voter disillusionment.

On March 22, Chong and his report will once again be under fire when Ford appears before a special city council meeting to explain how he will finance his subway dreams.

It will be a make-or-break session for the Sheppard line and for Ford, who has distanced himself from Chong’s report, insisting new taxes or road tolls aren’t needed to pay for subway lines.

No one would blame Chong for stepping aside at this point. At 67, with a recent hip replacement and young grandchildren, he doesn’t need — or deserve — the abuse and hassle.

Quitting isn’t Chong’s style, though.

But if he does go, Ford should at least do the right thing and pay him what he’s owed.

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